TV REVIEW | Cliches, obvious story points? Yes, but they can't mar the sometimes raucous charm of Lifetime's 'Army Wives'

May 31, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic

Roxy is slinging drinks in a two-bit bar when a soldier boy walks in and purrs the proposal of her dreams.

"Roxy," the fresh-faced paratrooper says, "you work two jobs, right? And you got two kids from two different men. Now, I know I only met you four days ago, but I think you're my soul mate, and I decided I want you to marry me."

That must have been some seriously good sex they had to persuade him to have sex with her forever.

Roxy ain't no dummy. She packs up the kids and joins him on a military base, where a whole new show called "Army Wives" goes down.

In this ensemble drama, there are too many wives, soldiers' spouses and kids to discuss here. But you can be sure Roxy will spill a drink on her dress during a fancy soldier party and exclaim, aw-shucks-like, "Well, if I didn't just serve up toe jam on an idiot cracker!"

And later on, of course, a pregnant woman will seem to go into labor in an automobile and cry out, "I can't have these babies in the backseat of a car!" (Sure she can. She just has to try a little.)

None of the above can possibly seem too appealing, and that's not even counting the obvious story points -- there's a cheater, a physical abuser, a soldier suffering post-traumatic stress and Roxy's bar drink, called a "big hot hooter," with a cherry for a nipple.

But "Army Wives" is better than it has any right to be. As I've said for years, subject matter doesn't matter; execution matters.

And the premiere of "Army Wives" mostly overcomes all those retread and/or laughable situations with good casting and deft direction. There are even some funny conversations that go down. They're usually sexy.

Roxy goes drinking with two Army wives; they tell her they're looking to pick up men while their hubbies are away.

"I thought you were married?" Roxy asks.

"I am," one slutty Army wife says. "I'm just not fanatic about it." That's a damn good line.

Besides, as much as the cliches gnaw at the conscience, cliches are sometimes true. "Army Wives" is based on real-life archetypes found in journalist Tanya Biank's nonfiction Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives.

This Lifetime show may also have been helped by being captained by heavy hitters from broadcast networks, headed by "Grey's Anatomy" producer Mark Gordon. Whoever did the casting was the smartest of the bunch.

The real gem actress is not the biggest name, Kim Delaney, though she's solid as a honcho's strong wife. The find is Sally Pressman's turn as Roxy. As corny as Roxy's new marriage is with paratrooper Trevor (Drew Fuller), Pressman and Fuller burn sweet chemistry.

"Why don't you jump on in here, big boy, and see if you can open my parachute?" Roxy says from under cover, and the scene unfolds in giddy charm and joy.

"Army Wives" is also valuable for what it's not. Unlike the usual suspects, it's not a cloying nighttime soap. There are no murder-mystery whodunits on an inexplicable isle. Teri Hatcher doesn't get locked naked outside a "Desperate Housewives" home. (Oops!)

The next few episodes do sink a bit into sap, with the babies and the soldier phone calls. But over all, "Army Wives" likes its characters and their marriages, and it treats them and us viewers as only partial imbeciles. Run that up a flagpole and salute it.